I grew up learning Chinese Mandarin at school, and speaking it at home. I was fluent with the language, and more importantly deeply engaged with its culture. That includes food, references, databases, information, wisdom.

When I switched my education to a British boarding school at age 16, I experienced the biggest culture shock in my life.

School was tough for me at first. Academically, I had to relearn all the knowledge that I gained in another language, just in time for A-Levels. More importantly, I couldn’t understand my classmate’s jokes, references, social cues. I felt so alone.

I knew that in order to break through that invisible wall, I had to understand the culture. And the key to that is its language.

In desperation, I completely immersed myself in the new language. Starting from grammar classes, and supplementing that with songs, TV shows, and Youtube videos. My confidence grew, I made more friends, and I could even start to share my experiences of Chinese culture with them. (Keep this as a secret between you and me- I love being able to access search engines from two cultures!)

Graduating from high school -I’m second from the bottom left.

Learning a language is not just about perfect grammar, or a perfect accent. It opens up a new world full of endless possibilities. Correspondingly, as you walk through the world, your accents adapt to the culture that you were immersed in.

The accent and learning method here on EllyChinese is not the most traditional, or the most authentic - but it carries the most authentic representation of my experiences.

I hope that through EllyChinese, you too can discover a new world of your own. Thank you for reading.

Love, Elly.